Shadow and the Raspberry Muffins

Last night I decided to mix up a Jiffy mix of Raspberry Muffins.  My big old white cat, Shadow is usually shy and timid but lately has been my shadow so to speak and last night wasn't any different.  He had to sit at my feet while I mixed them up and poured them into the pan.  I literally had to step over him in order to put them in the oven but I did without spilling them or getting burned as again he had to get right at my feet.

When they came out of the oven, I put them on a rack to cool down after trying a couple of warms ones with butter.  Again he was at my feet but I knew he had a full bowl of food and this wasn't one of the treats I usually give him or Miss Kitty.

They both will come running when I use the can opener thinking they will get a bite of tuna which is their one and only people food treat.

Anyway, I left the muffins on the rack to cool and went back into the other room to watch some TV.  It was a few minutes later that I heard a noise and went to see what was going on.  I saw him on the counter and called out so he jumped down immediately.

But before he did, he had managed to take a bite out of every muffin on the rack and had one cornered and was really going at it.  He sat back and watched as I gathered them up and scolded him.  I didn't feel I could salvage any of them so out they went.  

In the meantime, Miss Kitty had come to see what all the fuss was about and sat in the doorway with a look on her face as "what did I miss?"  I'm sure if she had found them first, she would have done the same or worse as she is usually the one who has to see what is up there and gets snoopy.

So it was a surprise to see Shadow being my bad boy last night.  Guess I will remember the next time I make muffins not to leave them out where he can get to them.  And especially if they are Raspberry Muffins.

Procrastination Again

I’ve been procrastinating again.  I’ll blame it on the hot weather.  I’ve thought about coming to the blog as so much happened in June. 

My daughter and I went to the Barry Manilow Concert which was fantastic and we had a great weekend together.  Then about a week later, I got hit with a bug.  It really knocked the wind out of my sales.  It was like a summer cold without a lot of the runny nose thing but I was achy, feverish, and for two days I stayed in bed most of the time sleeping.  I lost my appetite and about 6 pounds which I hate to admit I’ve gained back.  It lasted about a week although the cough lasted almost two weeks and still flares up at times.  But it also caused ear aches, headaches and heaviness in the chest.  It was a mean bug and I hope it doesn’t come back.

I was over the worst part but still a little on the weak side when it came up for our yard sale.  Melanie came down to help and bless her heart, she did most of the work.  It was a hot weekend and glad we only had it for two days.  On the last day, we waited until that evening to load it up as it was a little cooler but still worked up a good sweat.

I also had a surprise one day when I couldn’t get online and it was during the time I was ill so I waited until the next day to call only to find out that my internet provider pulled the plug without any notice.  Well, that led to me going with a connection that I’m not thrilled with but not having any choices, I either had to take it or go without and I’m so spoiled, I knew that going to town once a week to use wi-fi wouldn’t work for me.  So not sure where this will go but still not happy with it.

I had some excitement one evening when I had gone out to give fresh water to the cats and to water my plants.  I was standing on the sidewalk watching my cats lay in the grass that I had soaked down for them when something caught my eye.  It was a 9” Copperhead lying on the sidewalk in front of my shed doors.  I looked around and realized my neighbors across the street were gone, Spike had company so there was nothing to do but to get the hoe and kill it.  I walked around to get the hoe and I’m sure I made quite a sight as I stretched it out as far as I could and then began whacking it.  I did kill it and was able to get it on a shovel to toss over the back fence.

About the time I saw it, so did a couple of my kitty cats and they were watching it as it laid there but moved when I began to whack it.  Guess they were afraid I might get them.  Anyway, it kind of surprised them as much as me as I’m sure they weren’t aware of it as they laid on the grass but did finally notice it as it crawled onto the sidewalk.

It is the first one I’ve seen in over two years.  I’m sure they are here and I’m always on the alert for them but I’ve relied on my kitty cats to keep them away.  Here lately, it has been so hot that the cats are all gathered under the car in the car port or in the shaded grassy area that I wet down for them.

Then it was time to get ready for the 4^th of July.  We were to have some of Melanie’s friends come down from Tulsa but they were unable to make it so it was just her, Zach and my friend Spike and me.  But we had quite a fireworks show thanks to my grandson Zach and we enjoyed some drinks, snacks and good music as well as a lot of laughs and good conversation.  So we had a good time even though it was just the 4 of us.

But now the holiday is over, the decorations taken down and time to stay inside away from this excessive heat.  Hopefully we’ll have a break soon and get some rain as we are so dry.  We had a little shower a couple of days before the 4^th but not enough to really count.  The grass is brown and I haven’t had to worry about mowing.

The summer is going by quickly and soon it will be September and fall.  I prefer the warmer temps but not exactly the triple digits but it will be nice to have the nice days of September.

I hope you are having a great summer.  I’ll try not to be such a procrastinator from now on but since my time is somewhat limited on the new internet service, I will be writing my blog in Word and copying and pasting to it since I’m afraid I’ll run out of time on the wireless phone card I’m using now.  They say I can get 3 to 4 hours but haven’t had it happen yet and have already replaced one device as it didn’t work worth a darn.